Cellular wireless communications systems, for example, are designed to serve many access terminals distributed over a large geographic area by dividing the area into regions called “cells”. At or near the center of each cell, an access point, also sometimes referred to as a base transceiver station, is located to serve access terminals (e.g., cellular telephones, laptops, PDAs) located in the cell. Access points are typically assigned to communication groups which include “paging groups” and “neighbor groups.” The neighbor group of an access point includes neighboring access points with which the access terminal performs handoffs (i.e., receiving or transferring a call in progress). For example, when the number of connections supported by an access point approaches a maximum load that can be supported by the access point, that access point may transfer one or more of the connections to one or more access terminals belonging to its neighbor group. The paging group of an access point includes neighboring access points whose coverage area an AT can roam into after closing connection to the first access point. A communication group of an access point includes one or more access points that are configured to perform one or more specific communication functions in coordination with the access point.